Kent one of best nationally for student satisfaction

Gary Hughes
Kent students
Kent students by University of Kent

Students at the University are again amongst the UK’s most satisfied with their academic experience.

In the National Student Survey (NSS) 2014 Kent was placed joint third* in the category ‘overall satisfaction’ alongside universities such as Cambridge, Durham, Essex, Glasgow, Oxford and Surrey.

Kent scored 91% in this category, substantially above the national average of 86%.

Many of Kent’s programmes were also rated highly by its students. Programmes in its schools of Architecture, Arts, Biosciences, EconomicsEngineering and Digital Arts, European Culture and Languages (Classics, French, Spanish, Comparative Literature, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Linguistics, Archaeology) and Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research all received ‘overall satisfaction’ rates between 90 and 100%.

Other schools, such as Law, English, Politics and Anthropology, all appeared in the top 20 for overall satisfaction.

The NSS is a national initiative, conducted annually since 2005. The survey is aimed at all final-year undergraduates in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. There are 23 core questions, relating to the following aspects of the student learning experience: teaching; assessment and feedback; academic support; organisation and management; learning resources; personal development; overall satisfaction; and students’ union.

Kent’s Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor David Nightingale said: ‘Once again, this is a clear and welcome endorsement of our ongoing investment in the student academic experience. It also reflects our swift and positive response to student feedback and the ways in which we involve our students with major decisions and developments.

‘The news is also timely as it will reassure those students who are considering Kent as an adjustment or clearing option – an opportunity which has been enhanced by the government’s increase in student numbers for this year – that the University’s reputation for academic excellence remains one of the best in the UK.’

* out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty (i.e. not single-subject/specialist institutions) universities.